Microsoft Testing Platform (xUnit.net v2) 2025 December 30
Support for running xUnit.net v2 tests via Microsoft Testing Platform is available via a third party NuGet package (YTest.MTP.XUnit2).
Note that this project is not officially supported by xUnit.net or Microsoft. Any issues using this package should be reported to the GitHub project linked above.
See the README for the current feature set list as well as installation instructions.
What is Microsoft Testing Platform?
VSTest has been the underlying driver behind dotnet test and Test Explorer (and vstest.console and Test View before them) since it first launched in Visual Studio 2010. The new Microsoft Testing Platform aims to replace those with a new engine that is modernized, streamlined, performs better, and offers much greater extensibility for test framework authors.
Test projects for Microsoft Testing Platform are standalone executables. When a Microsoft Testing Platform test project is compiled, it can then be run directly (typically by invoking the already built executable, or using dotnet run to both build and run). This allows for a streamlined experience where the produced executable is all that's needed to run the tests.
When using the YTest.MTP.XUnit2 package, running your executable will run your tests in Microsoft Testing Platform mode:
$ dotnet run
YTest.MTP.XUnit2 Runner version 1.0.1+f1554021e38b5be2d84515eb7da51a6e5ed0c8cb (64-bit .NET 8.0.22)
Test run summary: Passed! - path/to/test-project.dll (net8.0|x64)
total: 1
failed: 0
succeeded: 1
skipped: 0
duration: 56ms
(Make sure you've added <OutputType>Exe</OutputType> to your project properties if you want to run your test project directly.)
Now your test project can run anywhere that Microsoft Testing Platform is supported. This includes dotnet test (in MTP mode), Test Explorer, JetBrains Rider, and more!
If you no longer need VSTest support after adding MTP support, you can safely remove the package references to xunit.runner.visualstudio and Microsoft.NET.Test.Sdk.